FIA states new teams can’t miss races

The FIA has clarified the rules regarding some new teams not being able to attend the first few races. Jean Todt recently stated that Campos and USF1 could skip the first 3 races, if they were not ready, and would avoid punishment.

This statement has been overturned by the FIA, however, who have released a short statement:

“From a sporting and regulatory point of view, each Team that has registered for the Championship is obliged to take part in every event of the season. Any failure to take part, even for just one Championship event, would constitute an infringement both of the Concorde Agreement and the FIA Regulations.”

The Concorde Agreement is, of course, the agreement of all the teams competing in Formula 1. If this contract is broken, the FIA have the power to disallow that team from competing in the sport.

This is good news for Stefan GP, who have already announced that they are sending equipment to Bahrain, in hope that either Campos or USF1 cannot make it. However, it seems that the team have overlooked the completely obvious. If a team drops out, the FIA don’t instantly hand another team their spot. Still, we might as well wait and see can Campos and USF1 get to the grid in time.

3 responses to “FIA states new teams can’t miss races”

What does F1 seem to have against poor Bruno Senna?
Firstly (and most tragically), the sport takes his dear uncle Ayrton from him.
Secondly, he tests for Honda and makes an impression but the team pull out.
Now his Campos team may not get to Bahrain on time.
I just want to see the Senna name back in Formula 1.
Of course I’ll refer to him as ‘Bruno’. There is only one ‘Senna’.

I’ve been hoping for a long time that all of this terrible news for Bruno would become defunct when he finally got into F1 and blew everyone away. Of course, I’ll always remember what Ayrton said: “If you think I’m good, wait till you see my nephew Bruno”. This sort of talent will, some day, find its way into F1. And when it does…